Week 1 - Law-making process, Courts, CJ Flashcards
Jurisdiction
Geographic boundaries where a law operates
England’s Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Great Britain
England
Scotland
Wales
United Kingdom
Scotland
Wales
England
Northern Ireland
British Isles
Scotland
England
Wales
Northern Ireland
R of Ireland
Statute
Law created by government and acted by government
Every statute has
Extent (provision)
Short title
What are the 3 pillars of the legal system
Legal method (all the ways the law works)
Institutions (organisations and agencies that administer the law, e.g. Parliament, courts, etc)
Personnel (dif roles within system, e.g. judges, barristers, police, etc)
What law system do we have
Common law - combines legislation passed by Parliament with the creation of precedents through case law.
What does the law enable in terms of human behaviour
To act with certainty and consistency
What forms of relative is the law
Culturally and temporally
Civil Law
Regulates interactions between individuals
Why law exists
Without humans would not behave in a way that maximises society’s potential
Evolution of law
Problem – triggers a new for a change in the law
New law – introduced to deal with the problem
Courts – interpret the law and work out how it applies
New problems – emerge as gaps in the law are identified
Law constantly changes to increase application satisfaction to what societal changes
Technology evolves
Campaigns
Media coverage highlighting issues
Unexpected events
Sometimes things change or just the way we look at/think about them
Example of reactive law
Voyeurism wasn’t new but gained momentum as an issue due to media coverage of calls by victims of up skirting for new law, which was the impetus for change and the creation of a law
Example of proactive law
Technology and other new developments drive the need for new law; there was no need for any law on driverless cars until the technology existed to make that possible
Common law
Adversarial system
Not codified
Judicial precedents are binding
Main source is judicial precedents or case law
Judges make rulings, set a precedent, and moderate between the conflicting parties
Civil law
Inquisitorial system
Codified set of laws
Judicial precedents are not binding
Statutes and other subsidiary legislations are the main sources
Judge’s role is to establish the facts of the case and apply the applicable code’s provision
Adversarial system
2 sides to a dispute, and a judge decides who wins
Inquisitorial system
Judge looks for the truth
